Pumpkin-carving competition at Croots Farm Shop for Halloween

Children are being invited to enter a Halloween pumpkin-carving competition at Derbyshire farm shop Croots.

Entries will form a scary display at the shop in Wirksworth Road, Duffield, on Saturday October 31st.

Entry forms and pumpkins are now available at Croots Farm Shop and Kitchen for anyone aged 16 or under who wants to enter, and who should then return their carved pumpkins to Croots by October 31st when judging takes place at 4pm.

A £10 Toy R Us voucher will be presented to the winner.

Croots Farm Shop welcomes its 100,000th customer

Derbyshire farm shop Croots has welcomed its 100,000th customer with a bottle of bubbly.


Owner Steve Croot presented Rosemary Hare with a bottle of Champagne to mark the occasion at the shop in Wirksworth Road, Duffield.

“I am delighted that we’ve had 100,000 customers at Croots Farm Shop & Kitchen in less than 16 months since opening in June 2008, particularly as the economy has been through such difficult times,” said Steve. “We’ve built up a really loyal band of customers from across Derbyshire and further afield, and we are very grateful for their support.

“They are not only supporting Croots, and the 18 jobs that have been created here, but they are also helping to support around 35 producers within a 50-mile radius of the shop, which is good for the regional economy and good for regional food and drink production.

“I am very pleased to present Rosemary with a bottle of bubbly to celebrate this happy milestone.”

Rosemary, from Chellaston, Derby, is a regular at Croots, and was delighted to receive her prize after learning that her basket of shopping marked the 100,000th through the till.

“I am thrilled,” she said.

Croots Farm Shop & Kitchen is based at Farnah House Farm.

For more information visit http://www.croots.co.uk/

Congratulations again to Perfect 10 PR client BSP Consulting

Congratulations again today to Perfect 10 PR client BSP Consulting.

A BSP-engineered scheme for 12 homes scooped the Environmental Sustainability Award at the East Midlands Regional Construction Awards last night.

Organised by the East Midlands Centre for Constructing the Built Environment, the awards aim to recognise and reward innovation, skills and training, and sustainability in construction across the region.

The sustainability award went to Varsity Rise, Manby, Lincolnshire – a £3.5 million Lincolnshire Rural Housing Association project where BSP designed and detailed the civil engineering elements of the scheme, including highways, drainage and external works.

Nottinghamshire-based Woodhead was the contractor for the project, which achieved a code 4 under the Code for Sustainable Homes.

Organic Meltdown chocolate lovers save more than 155,000 trees

More than 155,000 trees have now been saved by Organic Meltdown chocolate lovers.

For every bar of Organic Meltdown that’s eaten, a tree in a tropical rainforest is preserved…helping to conserve valuable habitats and the creatures that live there.

During National Chocolate Week, it’s been announced that just over 155,000 trees have now been saved by Organic Meltdown in conjunction with the World Land Trust.

The target is 5 million trees by 2012.

Each wrapper of each bar of Organic Meltdown carries a unique number which corresponds to its very own tree, and chocolate-lovers are encouraged to log onto www.organicmeltdown.com and register their number to find out where ‘their’ tree is situated.

Matt Hunt, director at Brand Stand Ltd who created Organic Meltdown, said: “We’re delighted that we have saved more than 155,000 trees in Ecuador so far, and hope that our recently launched new flavours and new look will prove even more popular with chocolate lovers and help us save even more trees.”

Available in four mouth-watering flavours, Organic Meltdown chocolate is made using carefully selected Fairtrade ingredients from Ecuador, Madagascar and Peru, and is a premium organic range.

Choose from Swiss dark chocolate with candied orange (58% cocoa), Swiss milk chocolate with hazelnuts and currants (33% cocoa), Swiss dark chocolate (71% cocoa) and Swiss milk chocolate (33% cocoa).

Organic Meltdown chocolate is available in Waitrose and independent stores, delis and other outlets across the UK, priced from £1.99.

Visit www.organicmeltdown.com for details.

BSP Consulting named Consultant of the Year

Structural and civil engineering firm BSP Consulting has been crowned Consultant of the Year 2009 at the East Midlands Property Dinner.

The firm, which has offices in Nottingham, Derby and Leicester, was presented with the award at the annual event held at the East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham.

The judges said: “BSP may be a young firm, but it has contributed so much to the market in such a short space of time. It just pipped the others in a category that was very keenly fought this year.”

The accolade comes as BSP Consulting celebrates its tenth anniversary, having been launched in Nottingham in 1999.

“We were delighted and proud to be awarded the prestigious title of Consultant of the Year 2009 at the East Midlands Property Dinner,” said BSP Consulting managing director David Sumner.

“This is a terrific achievement for the BSP team. I would like to pay tribute to everyone at the company, and thank our valued clients and partners, who have supported BSP as the firm has developed. It was an absolute honour to receive this award in front of our industry peers.”

BSP Consulting provides a comprehensive range of consultancy services to all sectors of the construction community, from architects, project managers and contractors to developers and estate agents. Based in the East Midlands, the firm has contracts across the UK, and is currently working on a wide variety of projects from regeneration schemes to retirement projects.

The company has framework agreements with three different development groups working in the social and affordable housing sector.

BSP employs almost 40 people across its three offices in the East Midlands – at Oxford Street, Nottingham, Pride Park, Derby, and De Montfort Street, Leicester.

The Consultant of the Year 2009 award was presented at the East Midlands Property Dinner in front of a crowd of 500 property professionals. Gyles Brandreth was the compere. The event was run by Insider Media.

Pictured from left to right, BSP Consulting director Clive Roddick, Shelagh Coates from award sponsor Invest Lincolnshire, and Carl Hilton, associate director at BSP.

Chance to win a month's supply of Organic Meltdown chocolate to celebrate Chocolate Week

Organic Meltdown chocolate is running a competition today in conjunction with thislittleladywenttolondon.com.... with the prize being a mouth-watering month's supply of chocolate!

Not only that, the winner will be saving 31 trees by munching through their prize. What better excuse do you need?

Organic Meltdown, which is the only chocolate bar that saves trees and which is available in Waitrose and via Ocado, is staging the competition to mark Chocolate Week (October 12th to 18th).

For more about Organic Meltdown visit http://www.organicmeltdown.com/

To enter the competition, visit http://www.thislittleladywenttolondon.com/2009/10/13/win-a-month-of-organic-meltdown/

Good luck!

Sheep and cow-inspired beers join the farmyard of ales at Croots Farm Shop

A farmyard of beers is now on sale at Croots Farm Shop & Kitchen after the addition of Ewe Drink and Cow Juice.


The Derbyshire farm shop introduced two of its own branded ales earlier this year after teaming up with Nutbrook Brewery.

Pig in a Bottle and Croots Shire Ale have become best sellers at the farm shop in Duffield, which offers a selection of regional beers.

Now owner Steve Croot has designed and commissioned two more farmyard-related ales to add to the collection, which have just gone on sale.

“I’m a real ale fan myself and it was great to create these beers especially for the farm shop,” said Steve. “Customers are really keen on the Pig in a Bottle and Croots Shire Ale, so I decided to add to the collection and create two more beers that are named after farmyard characters.”

The Ewe Drink (3.6%) is a full and surprisingly sweet beer with a rich golden colour. Its crisp taste and slightly floral aroma makes it a different, refreshing beer. Cow Juice (6%) is brewed in a traditional way using sugars also found in milk, which gives a full-bodied, thicker taste. With familiar roasted stout flavours, it has a warm soothing flavour.

The farmyard beers brewed by West Hallam-based Nutbrook Brewery cost £2.45 per bottle.

Croots is a supporter of local producers and sells items from more than 30 suppliers across the region, including regional breweries.

For more information about Croots visit http://www.croots.co.uk/